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Ashish Chaudha

Is an open source tool to help you build a valid SSL certificate chain from the root certificate to the end-user certificate. Also can help you fix the incomplete certificate chain and download all missing CA certificates.

How To Use
It's simple:

# Clone this repository
git clone https://github.com/trimstray/sslmerge

# Go into the repository
cd sslmerge

# Install
./setup.sh install

# Run the app
sslmerge -i /data/certs -o /data/certs/chain.crt

symlink to bin/sslmerge is placed in /usr/local/bin
man page is placed in /usr/local/man/man8

Parameters
Provides the following options:

  Usage:
    sslmerge <option|long-option>

  Examples:
    sslmerge --in Root.crt --in Intermediate1.crt --in Server.crt --out bundle_chain_certs.crt
    sslmerge --in /tmp/certs --out bundle_chain_certs.crt --with-root
    sslmerge -i Server.crt -o bundle_chain_certs.crt

  Options:
        --help        show this message
        --debug       displays information on the screen (debug mode)
    -i, --in          add certificates to merge (certificate file, multiple files or directory with ssl certificates)
    -o, --out         saves the result (chain) to file
        --with-root   add root certificate to the certificate chain

How it works
Let's start with ssllabs certificate chain. They are delivered together with the sslmerge and can be found in the example/ssllabs.com directory which additionally contains the all directory (containing all the certificates needed to assemble the chain) and the server_certificate directory (containing only the server certificate).
The correct chain for the ssllabs.com domain (the result of the openssl command):

Certificate chain
 0 s:/C=US/ST=California/L=Redwood City/O=Qualys, Inc./CN=ssllabs.com
   i:/C=US/O=Entrust, Inc./OU=See www.entrust.net/legal-terms/OU=(c) 2012 Entrust, Inc. - for authorized use only/CN=Entrust Certification Authority - L1K
 1 s:/C=US/O=Entrust, Inc./OU=See www.entrust.net/legal-terms/OU=(c) 2012 Entrust, Inc. - for authorized use only/CN=Entrust Certification Authority - L1K
   i:/C=US/O=Entrust, Inc./OU=See www.entrust.net/legal-terms/OU=(c) 2009 Entrust, Inc. - for authorized use only/CN=Entrust Root Certification Authority - G2
 2 s:/C=US/O=Entrust, Inc./OU=See www.entrust.net/legal-terms/OU=(c) 2009 Entrust, Inc. - for authorized use only/CN=Entrust Root Certification Authority - G2
   i:/C=US/O=Entrust, Inc./OU=www.entrust.net/CPS is incorporated by reference/OU=(c) 2006 Entrust, Inc./CN=Entrust Root Certification Authority

The above code presents a full chain consisting of:

Identity Certificate (Server Certificate)
issued for ssllabs.com by Entrust Certification Authority - L1K
Intermediate Certificate
issued for Entrust Certification Authority - L1K by Entrust Root Certification Authority - G2
Intermediate Certificate
issued for Entrust Root Certification Authority - G2 by Entrust Root Certification Authority
Root Certificate (Self-Signed Certificate)
issued for Entrust Root Certification Authority by Entrust Root Certification Authority

Scenario 1
In this scenario, we will chain all delivered certificates. Example of running the tool:

Scenario 2
In this scenario, we only use the server certificate and use it to retrieve the remaining required certificates. Then, as above, we will combine all the provided certificates. Example of running the tool:

Certificate chain
In order to create a valid chain, you must provide the tool with all the necessary certificates. It will be:

Server Certificate
Intermediate CAs and Root CAs

This is very important because without it you will not be able to determine the beginning and end of the chain.
However, if you look inside the generated chain after generating with sslmerge, you will not find the root certificate there. Why?
Because self-signed root certificates need not/should not be included in web server configuration. They serve no purpose (clients will always ignore them) and they incur a slight performance (latency) penalty because they increase the size of the SSL handshake.
If you want to add a root certificate to the certificate chain, call the utility with the --with-root parameter.

Certification Paths
Sslmerge allows use of two certification paths:

Output comments
When generating the chain of certificates, sslmerge displays comments with information about certificates, including any errors.
Here is a list of all possibilities:

not found identity (end-user, server) certificate
The message is displayed in the absence of a server certificate that is the beginning of the chain. This is a unique case because in this situation the sslmerge ends its operation displaying only this information. The server certificate is the only certificate required to correctly create a chain. Without this certificate, the correct chain will not be created.

found correct identity (end-user, server) certificate
The reverse situation here - message displayed when a valid server certificate is found.

not found first intermediate certificate
This message appears when the first of the two intermediate certificates is not found. This information does not explicitly specify the absence of a second intermediate certificate and on the other hand it allows to determine whether the intermediate certificate to which the server certificate was signed exists. Additionally, it can be displayed if the second intermediate certificate has been delivered.

not found second intermediate certificate
Similar to the above, however, it concerns the second intermediate certificate. However, it is possible to create the chain correctly using the second certification path, e.g. using the first intermediate certificate and replacing the second with the main certificate.

one or more intermediate certificate not found
This message means that one or all of the required intermediate certificates are missing and displayed in the absence of the root certificate.

found 'n' correct intermediate certificate(s)
This message indicates the number of valid intermediate certificates.

not found correct root certificate
The lack of the root certificate is treated as a warning. Of course, when configuring certificates on the server side, it is not recommended to attach a root certificate, but if you create it with the sslmerge, it treats the chain as incomplete displaying information about the incorrect creation of the chain.

an empty CN field was found in one of the certificates
This message does not inform about the error and about the lack of the CN field what can happen with some certificates (look at example/google.com). Common Name field identifies the host name associated with the certificate. There is no requirement in RFC3280 for an Issuer DN to have a CN. Most CAs do include a CN in the Issuer DN, but some don't, such as this Equifax CA.

Requirements
Sslmerge uses external utilities to be installed before running:

openssl

Other

Contributing
See this.

Project architecture
See this.

Download Sslmerge

A Brief History of Brave

When Brendan Eich and Brian Bondy founded Brave in 2015, they wanted to address what they perceived as the biggest problem with the modern internet: intrusive advertising.

Advertising is the fuel that powers the modern internet, allowing websites and digital creatives to monetize their content without charging users for each article read or every video watched. That said, Eich and Bondy think it's got some pretty significant downsides, citing the potentially privacy-harming nature of advertising trackers, as well as the negative impact it has on the overall user experience.

Brave's first release came about amidst two significant trends, which ultimately defined the new browser.

First, the cryptocurrency revolution was in full swing. Companies and individuals alike—like the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto—were creating their own decentralized cryptocurrencies, which quickly reached billion-dollar market capitalizations. Second, ad-blocking technology entered the mainstream. By the decade's halfway point, millions of people were blocking ads online across all browsers, desktop, and mobile.

Brave was one of the first browsers to include built advertisement and tracker blockers, leapfrogging the likes of Opera. It also came with its own cryptocurrency, called BAT (or Basic Attention Token), allowing users to reimburse the sites and creators they like.

Essentially, Brave wants to re-imagine how the Internet works: not just on a usability level, but on an economic level. It's an undeniably radical vision, but you wouldn't expect any less, given its founding team.

Brendan Eich is the inventor of the JavaScript programming language and co-founded the Mozilla Foundation, which created the popular Firefox web browser. He also briefly served as the foundation's CEO before resigning following a bitter controversy over his political donations. Brian Bondy is also ex-Mozilla, and spent time at education startup Khan Academy.

Beyond that, Brave is a reasonably standard browser. Like Edge, Chrome, and Opera, it's built upon the Blink rendering engine, which means webpages should work as you expect. Brave is also compatible with Chrome extensions.

To Track or Not to Track?

The Brave browser is characterized by an unapologetically pathological focus on user privacy. Its primary mechanism for delivering this is something called Brave Shields, which combines traditional tracker-blocking technology, paired with several under-the-hood browser configuration tweaks. This feature is turned on by default, although users can easily de-activate it should it cause websites to break.

As you might expect, Brave blocks trackers based on whether they appear in several public blocklists. Going beyond that, it also uses cloud-based machine learning to identify trackers that slipped through the net, in addition to browser-based heuristics.

Brave Shields also forces sites to use HTTPS, where both an encrypted and unencrypted option is available. By forcing users to use an encrypted version of a website, it makes it harder for those on your network to intercept and interfere with the content you visit. While this sounds abstract, it's more common than you think. Public Wi-Fi hotspots, like those found in airports, routinely inject their own ads into websites being visited. Although upgrading to SSL isn't a silver bullet against all security and privacy, it's a pretty significant security upgrade.

Separately from Shields, Brave also includes a built-in TOR browser. TOR allows users to circumvent local censorship — like that which occurs on a national or ISP level — by routing traffic through other computers on its decentralized network.

The tool, which was funded by the US Department of Defence, is frequently used by dissidents living under authoritarian governments to escape surveillance and censorship. Both Facebook and the BBC offer their own TOR 'onion' sites for this reason. Somewhat of a double-edged sword, it's also used by bad actors — drug dealers, hackers, and other online criminals — to operate free from the scrutiny of law enforcement.

Going Batty for BAT

As mentioned, Brave uses its own cryptocurrency, called BAT, for rewarding websites for the content they appreciate. Microtransaction-based tipping is nothing new. Flattr pioneered it almost a decade ago. What's different about BAT is both the implementation and the scale.

While Flattr used traditional fiat-based currencies (by that, I mean currencies like pounds, dollars, and euros), Flattr has its own fungible (essentially, convertible) cryptocurrency based on the Ethereum blockchain. And, as a browser with mainstream aspirations, Brave can deliver this concept to millions of people.

So, let's talk about how it works. Firstly, it's entirely optional. Users can choose to use brave without even touching the BAT micropayments system. By default, it's turned off.

If you decide to opt-in, users can purchase BAT through a cryptocurrency exchange, like Coinbase. They can also earn it by viewing "privacy-respecting" ads. Rather than traditional banner-based advertising, these present as push notifications. Users can choose to dismiss a notification or view it in full-screen.

Unlike traditional advertising networks, the calculations determining what advertisements to show you are performed on your own device. This means the advertiser isn't able to build a profile of you and your interests.

Of all advertising revenue that Brave receives, it shares 70 percent with users, keeping a 30 percent share. It's also worth noting that Brave's advertising program is only available in a handful of countries, mostly scattered across Europe and the Americas, plus Israel, India, Australia, South Africa, the Philippines, Singapore, and New Zealand.

Once you have some BAT, you can spend it. You can choose to automatically contribute to specific sites or tip creators on an ad-hoc basis. You can even tip individual tweets. When you open Twitter through your browser, Brave will automatically add a button to each post within your newsfeed. Pressing it will open a drop-down window, where you confirm your tip.

The sites accepting BAT include The Guardian, The Washington Post, and Slate, as well as popular tech publications like Android Police and The Register. Brave also plans to allow users to spend their rewards for more tangible rewards: like hotel stays, gift cards, and restaurant vouchers. At the time of publication, this system isn't yet available.

How Does Brave Compare to Google Chrome?

Google Chrome commands the majority of the browser market, with other competitors, including Brave, trailing behind. Independent figures about Brave's adoption aren't readily available. It doesn't show on NetMarketShare or W3Counter, as it uses Chrome's user-agent string. In October, however, the company behind Brave reported eight million monthly active users and 2.8 million daily active users.

While that's pocket change in the broader Internet ecosystem, it's still fairly impressive for a young company that's trying to disrupt a market dominated by a small handful of well-entrenched players, like Mozilla, Google, Microsoft, and Apple.

Brave promises to be faster and less energy-intensive than rival browsers, and it delivers on this. Scientific benchmarks, plus my own anecdotal experiences, pay testament to this. Furthermore, when you open a new tab, Brave shows you how much time you've saved by using it.

However, there are small annoyances you perhaps wouldn't get with other browsers. Functionality that comes standard in Chrome, like the ability to automatically translate webpages, is only available through plug-ins.

You also occasionally encounter webpages that force you to "drop" your shield to access it. And while this isn't Brave's fault, it does highlight the fact that a huge part of the conventional Internet isn't quite prepared to embrace its utopian vision of how content should be monetized.

A Brave New World?

Should you ditch Google Chrome for Brave? Maybe. There's a lot to appreciate about this browser. While it's generally fast, it also feels extremely polished. I appreciate the fact that it comes with both light and dark themes and the ease in which it allows users to protect their privacy from cross-site trackers.

But Brave is more than a browser. It's a statement about how the Internet should work. And while most people will agree that the pace and scale of online tracking should be rolled back, many may disagree whether cryptocurrencies are the best way to monetize content that is otherwise funded by traditional in-browser advertising. And are push notification-based advertisements on your desktop really a less irritating form of advertising?

Ultimately, the question is whether you agree with Brave's approach or not.

@£√£RYTHING NT

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Ashish Chaudha

An Iranian cyberespionage group known for targeting government, defense technology, military, and diplomacy sectors is now impersonating journalists to approach targets via LinkedIn and WhatsApp and infect their devices with malware. Detailing the new tactics of the "Charming Kitten" APT group, Israeli firm Clearsky said, "starting July 2020, we have identified a new TTP of the group,

via The Hacker News

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Sunday, August 30, 2020

Sslmerge - Tool To Help You Build A Valid SSL Certificate Chain From The Root Certificate To The End-User Certificate

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What Is Brave Browser And How Does It Compares To Chrome ?

A Brief History of Brave

To Track or Not to Track?

Going Batty for BAT

How Does Brave Compare to Google Chrome?

A Brave New World?

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